All is Vanity

Let’s start with the reading of God’s Word. Ecclesiastes 1:1–11 “The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. The sun rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises. The wind blows to the south and goes around to the north; around and around goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns. All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again. All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. Is there a thing of which it is said, “See, this is new”? It has been already in the ages before us. There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of later things yet to be among those who come after.”

Today is a very special day. Today is a special day because it is the first day of our journey together through the book of Ecclesiastes. Since I started preaching here we have been all throughout the Bible, mostly in the Pauline Epistles, though some in the Old Testament. Each sermon hopefully helped us realize that the Bible is not about us, not about our abilities, but it is about God, and His goodness and His faithfulness. I hope that we have started to see through the months that our lives as Christians aren’t defined by our situations in life, like we’ve seen in Job and Philipians. Our life is however, defined by Christ. Our hope is in Him. There’s a beautiful song called My hope is built on nothing less and it perfectly capsulate the desperate need of us Christians. Unbelievers need Jesus, but too many Christians today forget that we need Him just as much. We need Jesus today as much as we did when we were lost. Our very lives depend on Him. Listen to these lyrics and let us reflect. Is this our heart? Do we cry out in the hard times and good times Christ alone? Lord give us eyes to see the pride in our lives, help us realize that we are totally dependent on you. The lyrics of the song go: “My hope is built on nothing less Than Jesus' blood and righteousness I dare not trust the sweetest frame But wholly lean on Jesus' name On Christ the solid rock I stand All other ground is sinking sand When darkness veils his lovely face I rest on His unchanging grace In every high and stormy gale My anchor holds within the veil His oath, his covenant, his blood Supports me in the 'whelming flood When all around my soul gives way He then is all my hope and stay” I didn’t read all the lyrics because well, in truth for time sake but I want us all to understand something, this is the right and good heart for the Christian. A heart that says Lord now matter what happens in this life, I stand on you. Calamity and heartache my strike but you are my refuge against the storm of life. You are my hope. It’s the heart that says Lord the world tempts me with so many things, riches, fame, power, etc. But Lord I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but WHOLLY trust in Jesus’ name. Oh let us all ask for forgiveness, for we all so often lean on our own understanding. Our own power, our own strength. Let us reject ourselves, and cling to Christ. For as God would remind Job, our knowledge is so small. Our understanding microscopic, our strength compared to Him is non-existed. Our life is vapor, here one day and gone the next. But the Lord was. He is, and He will forever be. Let us stop being foolish and thinking we are anything but a mess in desperate need of a savior. Ask ourselves again, do we have a heart that says that. I’m not talking about a heart that says, yeah I need me some Jesus. I am talking about a heart that has you on your face crying out, pleading, “Lord I can’t do this without. I know how small and weak I am, Lord I need you. Lord I desperately need you. You are the source of my life, my strength, my everything.” That is the type of heart we need. Imagine way back when. A roman soldier about to kill a peasant. The peasant weeping, grovling at the soldiers feet begging for mercy. A pathetic sight. That needs to be us. I’ve joked with several members here about a fire and brimstone sermon. While this isn’t that, we’re going to be serious, and what I’m going to say might offend some of you, in some ways I hope that it does because our egos need to be bruised, no they need to be destroyed. We live in a culture that is so me-dependent. Look at what I can do. I did it. I will do it. We are a culture that says pull yourselves up by your bootstraps. THAT IS NOT THE GOSPEL. That has never been. Whatever you have done it is only because God has given it to you. Do you realize the only reason you and I are alive right now is because God has told our lungs to breath, He told our hearts to beat. All he would have to do is to tell your body to stop and you and I would fall down dead right here and now. And yet we have become a people who are so boastful about what we have done and what we can do. Christians bragging about all that they’ve done. I need you all to listen to me. Listen to me. What I am about to say is out of love. But really listen. We. are. pathetic. We are small, and weak. We are unfaithful. We are a people who concerns themselves with everything but the Bible. We freak out if things don’t go the way we want in life. Our politically. I’ve seen grown men. Grown Christians whine and cry over trump and Biden. I’ve seen Christians praises trump, claiming he would save America. How wicked has our county has become that our hope has been set in such derelict people. Did God not create both? Did God not set an appointment for each person. Has God left the throne that we place hope in fallen men and despair when we don’t get the outcome we want. Trump won’t save America. And if that statement upsets you, your heart has been led astray by the world. I want you to know that this is a political statement, this is a biblical one. Our hope cannot be on ourselves, and it cannot be on others. It is on Christ and Christ alone. Kamala can’t save us, and neither can trump. Only God, and until we get these silly preaches who fear monger and tell us that if the canidate we don’t want gets elected, America is done for. What a foolish statement. Does God not decided when to raise up and when to destroy? Is God not the one working so that all things would work together for our good and His glory. I’m sick of it. I’m sick of Christians making God to be so small, so helpless. Waiting for us to save His earth. Listen to Daniel 2:20–21“Daniel answered and said: “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might. He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding;” or what about Romans 13:1–2“Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.” Let’s look at some more. Isaiah 40:17–18 “All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness. To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him?” Daniel 4:17 “The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, the decision by the word of the holy ones, to the end that the living may know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will and sets over it the lowliest of men.’” Deuteronomy 8:18 “You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day.” Proverbs 16:33 “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.” and heres one from just last Sunday. Jobs response to the Lord. Job 42:2 “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.” There is many more bible verses to use, but I hope you get the point. If Trump is elected it is because did it, and if Kamala is, it is because God elected her. Now we could speculate reasons as to why God would do that but that isn’t the point. The point is that God is the one our hope is in. He is our strength and redeemer. Our blessed savior. We must have hearts to say that no matter what happens this election year, whatever happens in life, our hope is set on Christ. It doesn’t matter if Trump or Kamala is elected because without Christ there is no hope. Without Christ all is vanity. So why say all this today. I say this because I love you. And as we prepare to go through Ecclesiastes we need to have a right heart. And I hope no one was heart by anything I said, but if you were, ask yourself why? Why did what I said offend you? Let us all leave here today examining ourselves. What do we place our hope in? Because if we don’t understand that its not about us, its not about others, but its about Christ, if we don’t understand that, than the book of Ecclesiastes, no the whole Bible is going to be falling on def ears and hardened hearts. Hearts that say, “I know just who needs to hear that message” without reflecting how much we need to hear God’s Word. How much do we need to be corrected in our thinking and our behavior. The book of Ecclesiastes offers a different perspective on the same truth. It still says Christ is our one and only hope, but it shows us the vanity of chasing the things of the world. It shows us the life of those outside of Christ. Picture the worse of the worse. The depressed, angry man who uses every kind of drug under the sun. Picture the dirty prostitute roaming the streets. Now picture the well groomed, well-mannered, rich business man. He is the exact same as that drug user. He is the same as the prostitute. In fact go our and find them, grab their shoulders and look into their eyes. They’re a mirror of us without Christ. Lowly, gross, pathetic and evil. We’ve allowed society to set these standards in our head that one needs Christ less than the other. That well groomed man needs Christ as much as the other. But WOE to the well groomed man, because we know from our own hearts how easy it is to say, “I’m not like that guy so I don’t need Christ like he does” Oh how pride drags so many straight to the pits of hell. Jesus would tell a parable exactly like that. Luke 18:9–14 says, “He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” Christ is our only hope for Christians and is the only hope for nonbelievers. Let us take off the worlds teachings, let us abandon pride. We’re grown ups here. Let’s stop playing pretend. Let’s stop pretending that the human heart is anything other than what the Bible says. Wicked, and in desperate need for a savior. We should be desperate for Jesus. The rich man is no better than the poor man. The “all-together” Christian needs Christ just as much as the baby Christian. Again I tell you all this because as this church moves forward we are making a statement to others. We are telling them what we hope in. What we trust in, and it is my deepest desire that our church would be one that says our hope is NOT in circumstances. Its not in politicians. It’s not in ourselves. Our hope is solely in the person of Jesus Christ. As we near the end, I want all of us, right now, to stop and ask ourselves, what have i been conveying to others? Is it a trust in my own abilites? Is it a hope in circumstances? Politicians? or is it Christ. Do we convey that no matter what happens this election or this month or this year, our hope is in Christ, and we are not afraid because Christ is on the throne and He us ruler of all. In the beginning we read the first 11 verses, and we will close on it. I want you all to read these 11 verses. Read them over and over. Seek wisdom and understanding in prayer as i will be doing. Because next Sunday we will be diving into them. All this was an introduction into our sermon series. Pray in your hearts and minds that the Lord would guide you. Guide you away from the world, away from yourself and to a mighty and powerful God. The one who Holds the World in His hands. He is the ruler of all. What do we have to fear? Let us read God’s word Ecclesiastes 1:1–11 “The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. The sun rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises. The wind blows to the south and goes around to the north; around and around goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns. All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again. All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. Is there a thing of which it is said, “See, this is new”? It has been already in the ages before us. There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of later things yet to be among those who come after.”

Let’s Pray.